BROOKLYN, NY -
Saint Joseph's, Saint Louis, first-year conference member VCU and Temple were picked to finish first through fourth in the annual poll of Atlantic 10 coaches and media released today as part of the league's annual media day at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Duquesne, which returns two starters from last year's 16-15 CBI team, was picked to finish 16th. The Dukes did not land any players on the A-10 Preseason All-Conference, All-Defense or All-Rookie teams.

"Our focus this year will be on establishing our system, working hard and getting better every day," said first-year DU head coach Jim Ferry. "If we can keep our focus on getting better, everything else will take care of itself."

The Dukes return one of their top five scorers from last season in senior guard Sean Johnson (13.5 ppg., 900 career points). Six-six forward Andre Marhold (5.1, 4.0, 40 blocks) is DU's other returning starter.

Ferry and his staff brought in a five-man recruiting class during the spring signing period, one of whom - 6-8 senior UAB transfer Ovie Soko - won't be eligible until 2013-14.

"We have Atlantic 10 caliber players, but we lack Atlantic 10 experience," said Ferry. "We need to find a way to get our players meaningful experience quickly. The Atlantic 10 is going to be an outstanding conference this season. It will be a challenge every night."

The Atlantic 10 - with the addition of first-year members VCU and Butler (picked to finish sixth) - is expected to be one of the most balanced leagues in the country as was reflected by the preseason poll that saw six teams receive two or more first place votes.

The top 12 finishers in the 16-team conference will advance to the 2013 Atlantic 10 Championship on March 14-17 at the state-of-the-art Barclays Center which opened its doors in late September.

The top four finishers receive first round byes.

The Dukes will host exhibition games against Carnegie Mellon (Nov. 1) and Hawaii Hilo (Nov. 4), before opening the 2012-13 regular season at Albany on Friday, Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. (ET). DU will then travel to Washington, D.C. for a nationally televised ESPNU game at Georgetown in the first round of the Progressive Legends Classic on Sunday, Nov. 11.

2012-13 ATLANTIC 10 PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH
(as selected by conference coaches and media - first place votes in parentheses)